Learning Foreign Languages: Is it a hobby or a must?

[blouen]

Originally Posted by nyggus

It's true. There are Canadians who don't know French at all; the same applies to English. I remember in Vancouver I heard quite often Polish, Spanish, not to mention Chinese, but French - just two times (during five months).

How about in Poland? What would I most likely hear if ever I get there?

[nyggus]

Originally Posted by blouen

How about in Poland? What would I most likely hear if ever I get there?

Polish! Unfortunately even English is not too common and still you may have problems with communication in English on the streets of Poland's cities, especially small ones.

[blouen]

Originally Posted by nyggus

Polish! Unfortunately even English is not too common and still you may have problems with communication in English on the streets of Poland's cities, especially small ones.

Whew, then perhaps, Poland is not the best place for my feet to tread on. I could now see your streets having signs, ¨No Blouen Allowed!¨.

[Harry Smith]

I think Poland is a very beautiful country and you Blouen could visit it as a tourist. I'm sure there are a lot of guides in Poland who speak brilliant English.
You could also learn a couple of words in Polish. For example: Dobriy Xlopets means a good guy. Why I remembered it because I had some students from Poland a few years ago and I was trying to learn their language while teaching them English.

[nyggus]

Originally Posted by blouen

Whew, then perhaps, Poland is not the best place for my feet to tread on. I could now see your streets having signs, ¨No Blouen Allowed!¨.

You'd have a guide so don't worry and come to Poland with no hesitation!

[nyggus]

Originally Posted by Harry Smith

I think Poland is a very beautiful country and you Blouen could visit it as a tourist. I'm sure there are a lot of guides in Poland who speak brilliant English.
You could also learn a couple of words in Polish. For example: Dobriy Xlopets means a good guy. Why I remembered it because I had some students from Poland a few years ago and I was trying to learn their language while teaching them English.

I am happy you think so about Poland! And yes, indeed there are plenty of tourist guides who speak English pretty well. Dobriy Xlopets (in Polish spelled as "dobry chlopiec" with l as a special Polish character) is not exactly a good guy; nowadays it would rather be used for a young (say, 10-year old) child, but you wouldn't use it for older youngsters (unless in a hilarious way). Should you want to learn more words in Polish, here I am!

Cheers,
Nyggus

[Harry Smith]

Originally Posted by nyggus

I am happy you think so about Poland! And yes, indeed there are plenty of tourist guides who speak English pretty well. Dobriy Xlopets (in Polish spelled as "dobry chlopiec" with l as a special Polish character) is not exactly a good guy; nowadays it would rather be used for a young (say, 10-year old) child, but you wouldn't use it for older youngsters (unless in a hilarious way). Should you want to learn more words in Polish, here I am!

Cheers,
Nyggus

Yes,of course. I'll be very greatful to you. If you don't mind a new thread will be better for it.

[sgtbreitner]

Hey, my grandma is Polish!!! She came to Brazyl in 1948!! she always travel to Germany... she loves that country, maybe one day i will travel with her.

[Maximilian]

Originally Posted by Harry Smith

I just want to pay attention to how people of different nationalities learn foreign languages. My friends living in English Speaking Countries often say: Why we should try to learn other languages when the whole world is full of English. They mean English is spoken all over the world and I agree with them. But one thing isn't clear to me. Do they ever learn German, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese etc. as hard as we do? Or maybe they don't even think about other languages. Any ideas?

English is an international language and society is becoming more multicultural. It may become the language of work, but people may speak other languages like Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic and Russian. They are going to become increasingly important with the impact of globalization. By the way, the spread of English is actually causing far more people to become bilingual and multilingual.

[Photon]

Hi everybody!

My take on this is that English has actually become the de facto lingua franca, at least for the time being - who knows how long this will last, maybe next time you ask it's Mandarin.

This surely applies to the business world and more and more to the the various disciplines of science as well. Is it a good development? Who knows? It's happening whether we like it or not. And as yet no other language is about to take over the role of English. So in order to survive, simply learn it as best as you can! That's all there is to it. Be it a hobby or a practical consideration.

On another note, of course all the native English speakers should learn another language whichever that is, as well. They'd profit from that experience highly because it means also immersing oneself into another culture - a treat - we non-native English speakers all know very well - but which is only rarely shared and experienced by native English speakers, unfortunately.

Why is that? Laziness... why learn another language when you get through and by with your own one almost anywhere in the world? That's a really sad attitude in every sense. And in the long run, native English speakers will be left behind because they will be in the minority and just won't be able to keep up - interculterally - with the rest of the pack because they've just never learned to adapt to other cultures.

These are - of course and how could it be any different - my own, highly subjective thoughts, attitudes and conclusions.

Best regards
Photon